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The Pentagon Must Go on the Offensive to Defeat Politicized Officers
14 Apr 2025 ~~ By Kurt Schlichter
That Space Force colonel in command in Greenland – well, formerly in command in Greenland – who ran her fool mouth to undermine her commander-in-chief demonstrates an all-too-common problem with today’s senior military officers. We keep seeing these passive-aggressive, and not so passively aggressive, officers acting out and throwing childish tantrums of resistance to the President that the people of the United States elected. It’s inconceivable to those of us from the military who won the Cold War; we stayed the hell out of politics. Somehow, they must have missed that civilian control block of instruction; non-partisanship is a vital principle of our officer corps. To be political on duty is a violation of our oaths. It’s a violation of our ethos as officers. And it’s got to be brutally crushed – even Barack Obama understood that when he properly canned General Stanley McChrystal for having a staff that thought it was okay to diss the President to reporters (incredibly, after this massive leadership failure, McChrystal has gone on to sell his leadership insights to eager civilian suckers, but that’s another story).
We simply cannot have a functioning military that tolerates individuals putting their own personal prerogatives ahead of the mission – and that’s exactly what this political posturing is. It brings to mind a story of my continuing dispute with my command sergeant major when I commanded a cavalry squadron. We rarely disagreed on anything; my CSM was that guy whose picture is scowling back at you, judging you, when you look up the definition of a noncommissioned officer. But every chow time in the field, we had a confrontation. One of us would note that the last of the soldiers had eaten, and then the argument would begin.
“Sir, time for you to grab chow.”
“After you, Sergeant Major.”
“After you, Colonel.”
It was the same dispute, every meal. Both of us wanted to eat last. That’s because leaders eat last. That’s because leaders put themselves after their troops. It was a point of pride.
~Snip~
Your politics don’t matter when you are a military leader. At all. Politics have no place in the military. None. I was becoming more and more prominent politically and in the media as a civilian while I was becoming a senior field grade officer as a reservist, but I was actively apolitical around the troops.
~Snip~
But apparently, some officers these days think there is a Trump Exception to their duty as officers to be apolitical, just as there appears to be a Trump Exception to every other rule, regulation, norm, and standard in our society and government. They are wrong, and their utterly bass ackwards conception of their duties as leaders is poisonous to the organization. If you aren’t loyal to the commander-in-chief, who are you loyal to?
~Snip~
What’s stunning is the sheer cheesiness of their tiresome acts of resistance. The commander of Fort Igloo decided to throw away her career by mass emailing a cloying letter that emphasized how she didn’t support the political leadership’s initiatives re: Greenland. What was she thinking? Another officer at NATO headquarters refused to post pictures of the new commander-in-chief and vice-president, as is a rule on military installations.
~Snip~
There is, of course, a quick and effective means of setting the standard – or, in this case, resetting it. And Pete Hegseth is doing it. When you find someone who is failing to meet his or her obligations as a senior officer, you fire him or her. You do it immediately, like the SecDef did here. You don’t dither. You don’t equivocate. You don’t wait a couple of months until the brigadier general you detailed to perform an Army Regulation 15–6 investigation completes it. You fire the offender on the spot. And you consider firing his or her boss for allowing that kind of command climate to fester.
You also ensure that the relieved officer is retired at the rank where he or she last served satisfactorily, as opposed to the rank he or she wore when fired. Here’s a pro-tip: You didn’t serve satisfactorily if you were relieved for cause. And, where appropriate, you use the Uniform Code of Military Justice to prosecute those senior officers who violate the law and publicly embarrass the officer corps through their gross lack of professionalism. If you can bust a private for mislaying his M4, you can charge a colonel or general who breaches the most basic rules that govern our military organizations.
~Snip~
It’s not outside the realm of possibility that I might be called back on active duty as a retiree for a short time to help out with rebuilding my beloved military – clearly, the situation is desperate. But if I do, during the time I’m wearing the uniform, you won’t hear a damn thing from me here or on X about what I think about politics.
We need a military that can win wars again. That will not happen until we first defeat the senior leaders who put their politics ahead of their duty.
Commentary:
Under president Obama there was a purge of the Officer and Non-commissioned office corps within all branches of the military.
Along with the purge a promotion of politically ideological personnel were advanced.
People like Vanderman, Milley, Austin, and the commander of Fort Igloo were propelled into higher ranks that would not have been previously considered for promotion.
Pete Hegseth is correct and is doing the best thing. He's weeding out those officers that have become politically active and removed them from authority and influencing the military ethos wrongly.
Kudos to what is occurring it makes a stronger and effective military when they adhere to it's strengths rather than effeminizing our forces and using political officers like Russian a China to politically control ou military.
